Background to Judo

Meaning and Understanding

The contemporary diversity and subtlety of the Indo-European family of languages means that an ‘accurate’ translation from even closely linguistically related languages does not necessarily convey the meaning nor always lead to an understanding in accord with that intended. We have to therefore accept that our understanding of the meaning of an ideogram evolved by a radically divergent culture may be deficient.

The Japanese word for Judo comprises the ideogram for Ju, which implies softness, flexibility, gentleness together with the ideogram for Do with its connotation of way or path in a moral, philosophical or religious sense.

To define the meaning of the word Judo presents us with the problem that we have the disadvantage of applying our own cultural criteria to the product of an extremely divergent, if not alien, ethos. A meaningful exploration of anthropological differentiation and the socio-psychological implications of this may be of burning interest to ethnologists and sundry other esoterics, but I know my limitations! I will therefore attempt a less complex summation.

Image and Reality

I was introduced to Judo in 1961, a time of change both for me (aged sixteen) and ‘Western Civilisation’ as we thought of it. Most people, if they had any opinion about the subject at all, probably associated Judo with the image of a small oriental flinging a larger man over his shoulder with a mere flick of the wrist. The blood-curdling scream was optional.

The contemporary image is somewhat different, being something like that of a young Olympian hero of the three A’s type (Athletic, Articulate, Arrogant) pushing and pulling a clone around a brightly coloured vinyl mat. The scream is still optional.

Perhaps neither of these views encapsulates any profound understanding of Judo, but it is interesting that such disparate images should arise and each contains elements of truth.

The Judo paradigm encompasses a wide range of concepts, ranging from the most solidly physical to the almost surreal, for example, Judo is:

• An Olympian sport
• A recreational activity
• A martial art
• A method of physical fitness training
• A form of assertiveness training
• A philosophy
• A way of life

The view is sometimes expressed that Judo means something different to different people and it is true that most people who start Judo will have a simplistic, generally physical, view of their objectives. Many will be satisfied to experience Judo in the narrow sense and have no interest in Judo in the wide life enhancing sense.

The cornerstones of Judo are Physical Development, Mental and Spiritual Development and Contest Proficiency and the individual who seeks one without regard to the others has a poor foundation on which to build their understanding of Judo.

I consider this unfortunate and believe that Judo should be appreciated as a true homogeny incorporating the physical and the spiritual.

Judo as Education

In the West, our sports and pastimes are not often linked to practical applications and usually possess only the vaguest relationship to ‘real life’. Although the origins of many sports can be shown to be linked to archaic martial antecedents, the connection is often tenuous and mostly obscure. Similarly, although the cultivation of concepts such as ‘Fair Play’ and ‘Team Spirit’ may be lauded, the embodiment of such ideals in what have become mainly elitist games is somewhat ambiguous.

Jigoro Kano researched, formulated and codified a system of Martial Arts based physical techniques that, together with a unified philosophical structure partly derived from Zen Buddhism, he termed JUDO. This was in 1882 when the master was twenty-three years old. Professor Kano went on to become one of the architects of modern Japan, one of the key people instrumental in raising his country from a culture of feudalism to a position of eminence amongst the most highly industrialised nations.

An educationalist of the highest calibre, his achievements outside Judo were also outstanding. As a prominent humanist and internationalist, his contribution to Sports and Physical Education was not limited to Japan and the Japanese. He died in 1938 aged seventy-eight on board a ship bound from Cairo, returning home from a meeting of the Olympics Committee that confirmed Tokyo as the venue for the twelfth modern Olympiad. He therefore did not live to see his ideals savaged by the dogs of war.

Judo is the creation of an educationalist and any ambivalence in addressing the dichotomy of linking the personal and intellectual development of the individual with learning martial arts techniques can be resolved by an understanding of the underlying principles.

Reprise

The complexity that is an individual is the unique synthesis of evolved genetic material tempered by the environment. In a similar manner, Judo was formed from the collation of a wide range of physical techniques and philosophical influences that has evolved in response to human need. One very important difference, if we preclude the existence of an interventionist rational supreme being to confound the evolutionists, is that in the case of Judo an active intelligence chose which material to use and, at least partly, the development of Judo has been in a controlled environment.

For myself, two aphorisms encapsulate my concept of Judo. The first is attributed to Jigoro Kano Shihan:

‘Minimum force, Maximum effect’

The second is a version of a Zen Proverb:

‘When you seek it, you cannot find it
Your hand cannot reach it
Nor your mind exceed it.
When you no longer seek it
It is always with you.’

Roger Marks, Chief Instructor, Kyushinkai

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